Contemporary commercially available hybrid vehicles are generally of the dual-mode type having a liquid fueled (gas) powered engine that drives a generator for charging a battery array. The battery array powers one or more electric motors that propel the vehicle using direct current (DC) power alone or in cooperation with the gas engine.
A potential alternate or supplemental charging source for the battery array of a hybrid vehicle is to “plug in” the vehicle to a public or private utility company power grid. This can be done in a driveway, a garage or in a public parking structure. However, to properly charge the battery array, the charging power waveform must be phase locked to the incoming power grid voltage. This can be done for commercial 3-phase (or multi-phase) power signals, however, most home power arrangements do not have 3-phase power systems available and most home owners will not undergo the expense to install them just to charge a hybrid vehicle.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a single-phase charging arrangement for a hybrid vehicle so that a hybrid vehicle can be charged from a home line current. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.